Moments in the Inquisition
by ApplauseJunkie
Summary: A series of short scenes involving the characters of the Inquisition. Some of the pairings include Inquisitor/Solas, Inquisitor/Cassandra, and Varric/Cassandra. All of my pairings will be included in this story, in no particular order.
1. SolasInquisitor: Dreams of Haven

Inquisitor. I paced Skyhold's main hall wondering just what that would mean. I would be responsible for the lives of the entire Inquisition, the one they looked to for the hope that the world might be saved from the Elder One who threatened the entire continent of Thedas. Could I handle it? Could I save all of these people from the most powerful opponent any of us had ever faced? We knew nothing about him except that he wanted the blessing Andraste had granted me.

It had been odd at first to suddenly be faced with proof that the old Dalish gods had in fact given way to the humans' Maker, and that Andraste herself had chosen an elf to be her Herald. But when faced with indisputable facts, faith is the only option. Andraste had helped me seal the rifts, destroy the demons, and save the lives of thousands of people. She had helped me seal the Breach, and had protected me from Corypheus and his archdemon at Haven. Now, with her blessing, I was leading the Inquisition against one who claimed to be a god.

Finally I tired of my musings and chose one of the doors in the side of the main hall to explore. It led me into a round room with a warm yellow glow. In the middle of the room was a table, and at the table stood a familiar slender figure, with ears that matched mine and a hairless head that housed one of the most unique minds I had ever encountered. My heart constricted a little as he turned to look at me with his ever-serious gaze. When he saw it was me his expression softened a little.

"How can I help you?" he asked congenially.

At first I stammered, having no idea what to say or why I was even in here. I had just been exploring the castle and had found him by accident. But now that I had his attention I found that I didn't want to let it go. Finally I replied haltingly, "I-I'd like to know more about you." It sounded idiotic when I said it out loud, like a clumsy schoolgirl trying to flirt. Would he think me ridiculous for awkwardly attempting to create a conversation? Would he catch on to the butterflies in my stomach every time he spoke to me? The nerves continued until a tiny smile crossed Solas' face.

"What would you like to know?" He made it seem as if the question were a perfectly normal one and that he either didn't notice or didn't mind my nervous discomfort at being around him.

I racked my brain for a question that wasn't too personal, so I turned to a subject I knew he enjoyed talking about. "I'd like to hear more about your studies," I inquired finally.

My curiosity was rewarded with a smile. "You continue to surprise me," he said, and I fought to keep a blush from my cheeks. I hadn't meant to be surprising, nor had I thought it much of an odd thing for me to want to hear more about him and his work. "All right," Solas continued, "Let's talk. Preferably somewhere more interesting than here."

Suddenly we were standing in front of a familiar Chantry, still whole and not buried beneath an avalanche of snow. I looked up and found the Breach still in the sky. We were in Haven, back before the battle with Corypheus. I turned to see Solas watching me carefully.

"Why here?" I asked.

"It's familiar," he replied. "It will always be important to you."

Looking around I had to admit it was nice to be back in the place that had been my home for more than a month. It was even nicer to be here alone with him, with his eyes upon me, those eyes that held so much knowledge and experience, but also something softer when he looked at me. I had noticed before but had dismissed it as my imagination, but now it was unmistakable. I couldn't place exactly what it was, but I was positive he never looked at anyone else like that.

"I sat beside you while you slept, studying the Anchor," he said, an image of the dungeon where I had woken up after the explosion appearing around us. I stared at the chair where I had been chained, where this journey of the faithful had begun. How could I have known then that Andraste herself had chosen me to lead the force that would save the world from the threat Corypheus posed to all of southern Thedas? The image crossed my mind of myself slumped there, with Solas at my side attending to me, keeping the mark from killing me while I remained unconscious there in their captivity. I turned to him.

"Thank you," I murmured. "I'm glad someone was watching over me."

He returned my gratitude with a small smile. "A life ultimately worth saving," he replied as the dungeon around us melted and turned back into the exterior of Haven. "I couldn't understand you. I could find nothing in all my studies or explorations of the Fade to tell me what that mark was or what it did. I was ready to flee, to find someplace far enough away that I might research the Breach before its effects reached me."

Solas looked up at the swirling sky, then thrust one hand into the air towards the glowing green hole at its center. "I told myself one more attempt to seal the breach." Dropping his arm, he looked back at me. "I failed. No magic I could command was able to seal the rifts, and the demons that poured out of them threatened to overrun the world. I watched the Breach expand and grow, resigned myself to flee, and then-" he turned suddenly to look at me, and I saw in his eyes a vision, a memory of the moment we met, when he had taken me by the wrist and thrown my hand into the sky, sealing the first of the rifts. "You came to us, as if by some magic of the Fade I have yet to experience. You had sealed it with a gesture... and right then, I felt the whole world change."

My heart leapt. "Felt the whole world change?" I repeated breathlessly.

He looked down at me with overwhelming emotion in his eyes. "You change…everything."

Butterflies erupted in my stomach. I stared at him for a seemingly endless moment, and he returned my gaze steadily.

I don't know why, what gave the impulse or the courage to give in to it, but I subtly reached out with one hand. To my surprise before I could take his hand in my own, he met me halfway and took mine. My other hand rose of its own accord and cupped the side of his cheek, gently turning his head toward mine so I could lean forward to kiss him. It was brief, and once we parted I stared up at him, my heart pounding in my ears as I watched him for signs of a reaction.

That reaction came swiftly and powerfully as he pulled me against him once more and kissed me with a fervor I hadn't expected from him. One of his hands entangled itself in my hair as the other slid around my waist, holding me tightly to him.

I pulled back and tried to speak. "Solas, I—"

"Shh," he whispered and silenced me with another long, hot kiss. His lips were smooth and forceful, betraying a passion I had never dared to hope for. I kissed him back hungrily, relishing how close he was to me, drinking in his desire and letting it mingle with my own, drowning in his touch when suddenly—

"We shouldn't." He pushed away from me. "It isn't right. Not even here."

Not right? I stared at him. I had never felt anything so right in my entire life. The way he had looked at me, the need in his embrace, the heat of his kiss, it had all felt like a dream come true. A dream. A doubt suddenly appeared in my mind. "What do you mean, 'here'?" I asked.

A small smile suddenly played across Solas' lips. "Where did you think we were?"

I glanced around. Haven. Haven was destroyed. The Breach was no longer in the sky. How had we gotten here? I knew the answer, and looked back at the elven mage with realization in my eye. "This isn't real…" I murmured.

His smile widened. "That is a matter of debate. Probably best discussed after you _wake up_."

My eyes flew open and I found myself in my own bedroom, completely alone.


	2. SolasInquisitor: Skirmish

My daggers sank into the bandit's back just as Iron Bull's jagged battleaxe came down on his head. Stepping over the body of the unfortunate archer, I threw a smoke bomb and vanished as a shield-bearing warrior barreled toward my Qunari companion. I slipped aside just in time, but suddenly from behind I felt another blade slice across my shoulders in a searing bolt of pain. Another rogue appeared out of nowhere, and I spun to glare at the man, noticing the poison dripping from his daggers. I would need to take a potion as soon as the other rogue was dead. We locked eyes for an instant before we both dove at each other. I slashed and parried with an expert's finesse, while the bandit's style relied on his superior strength and reach to try and best my skill. I ducked beneath his arching swing and shoved my right blade into a space in his armor under his arm, into his chest from the side.

I heard him gag as blood filled his lungs and rushed out of his mouth and the wound on his side as I withdrew my dagger. With grim satisfaction I watched him collapse in gurgling gasps as he died in terrifying agony. Behind me I heard an explosion and a brief scream, and spun just in time to see a mage dropping to her knees as flames engulfed her robes.

My knees weakened and my head spun as the poison in my wound began to take effect. I reached for the potions on my belt but staggered in pain, feeling my own blood soaking my back through my armor.

"Vhenan!" Solas stepped through the flames and rushed to my side just as I began to fall. I landed in his arms and he carefully knelt, laying me in his lap and propped my head up as I finally uncorked the bottle and drained the lifesaving elixir. My wound began to close and I felt my strength return. Solas watched with relief as my skin healed before his eyes.

"You must be more careful, my heart," he chided, concern still showing in his serious blue eyes.

""He was invisible!" I protested as I sat up, adjusting the scales of my armor. "Besides, I'm fine." It was true; those potions kept all of us alive, but especially me and Iron Bull since we took the most punishment in the field.

"Let's get you back to camp," Solas insisted, standing up and then offering me a slender hand. I took it and stood as well, but before I could release him he pulled me into him and held me close. I melted into his embrace and wrapped my arms around his waist as my head fell into the nook between his neck and shoulder. "I know you're fine," he murmured, burying his face in my hair, "You're one of the strongest people I've ever met. But that doesn't keep me from worrying about you."

A warm smile crossed my face and I closed my eyes, breathing in the scent of his skin. "I love you, Solas," I whispered.

"Ar lath ma, vhenan," he replied, kissing the top of my head. I opened my eyes and tilted my head back just as he leaned down to kiss me again. Our lips met for one infinite instant, and I sighed in happiness as I looked up at him.

We could have stayed there forever if I hadn't looked over his shoulder to see Varric and Iron Bull watching us and rolling their eyes. With an awkward giggle, I pulled away from Solas' embrace and ran a hand through my light blonde hair. "L-let's get back to camp," I affirmed, looking around one last time to make sure we hadn't missed any loot.

Solas smiled down at me and took my hand as we started off back toward camp./p


	3. CassandraInquisitor: Poetry

The sun was setting fast, and there was still no sign of her. I started lighting the candles, which I had traveled all the way to Val Royeaux to find. Once those were taken care of I glanced around, checking to make sure the path of flower petals was clear and easy to follow, when I heard a twig crack in the distance. Grabbing the book of poetry I had found in Redcliffe, I jumped behind a tree and waited and watched.

Finally Cassandra appeared, moving a little slowly in the dusklight, but once she saw the candles' glow she turned and headed more confidently toward our meeting place. When she came upon the flowers, however, her gait slowed again and she looked around curiously. I watched in silence until she had passed the tree behind which I was hiding, then came out so I was silently walking behind her. I opened my book to the marked page, took a deep breath, and began.

"On aching branch do blossoms grow, the wind a hallowed breath…" I really wasn't one for performing, especially when it came to something like reading poetry to someone who made me feel the way Cassandra did. But it was what she wanted, so it was what I was going to give her. Anything to make her look at me that way again.

She whirled at the sound of my voice, staring at me in surprise. I fought down the butterflies in my stomach and forced myself to continue. Maker, this was harder than fighting that dragon.

"It carries the scent of honeysuckle, sweet as a lover's kiss." I leaned dramatically toward her, and she shoved me away, still looking at me with utter disbelief on her face. Her touch wasn't rough, but I let it propel me backwards anyway. Looking away from her I threw my hands out and finished the verse. "It brings the promise of more tomorrows, of sighs and whispered bliss."

Turning to her once more I sank onto one knee and looked up to see her reaction.

The surprise had not left her face. "You can't be serious," she said finally.

"Why not?" I asked, rising from the ground and closing the book. "It's what you described to me, isn't it?"

She blushed.

"Besides," I added. "We don't need to be serious every single minute, do we?"

This time a smile played across her face. "And _that's _the poem you chose?" she asked.

I put one hand over my heart and pretended to be wounded to cover up the fact that her question had, in fact, knocked my confidence quite a bit. I didn't know if I had expected her to swoon into my arms, but for her to tease me like that came as a surprise to me. Eventually I just rolled my eyes and shoved the book into her hands instead.

She looked at the title and looked back at me. "I thought this one was banned," she commented. I shrugged innocently at her, as if I had no idea where I got it. Cassandra looked back down at the pages without further comment. Then she started reading.

"His lips on mine speak words not voiced, a prayer."

His lips on hers, huh? What I wouldn't give to be the one she thought of when she spoke the words of that poem.

"…which travels down my spine like flames that shatter night." The poetry sounded so natural in her voice, with its heavy Nevarran accent and blunt way of saying whatever was on her mind. I was dying to be the one on her mind at any given second of the day, but especially when she read words like that.

She leaned against an old birch tree, and I moved with my hands held behind my back, coming up on the other side of the tree so I could rest one arm on the white bark and look over her shoulder at the book.

"His eyes reflect the heavens' stars, the Maker's light." A smile played over her face as she continued. "My body opens, filled and blessed, my spirit there."

This time I interrupted and finished the verse for her. "Not merely housed in flesh, but brought to life." I felt her subtly lean back and I took the opportunity to push forward just enough to whisper softly in her ear, "Shall we read another?"

The book snapped closed and hit the ground. Cassandra whirled and threw both arms around my neck. I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her against me, and we kissed passionately as the sun finally set around us. We were alone in the world now, with only the candlelight to see each other by. But neither of us needed to see anymore. We knew what to do.

With her arms around my neck Cassandra suddenly pulled me forward until we both toppled into the flower petals I had strewn. My light mage's armor clinked against her breastplate as I landed on top of her, and she reached up to kiss me again as soon as we landed.

"Inquisitor—" she began, but I interrupted her.

"Elijah. No titles now." I wanted to hear what my first name sounded like in her voice. It had been so long since someone had used it. Literally everyone referred to me as Inquisitor or the Herald of Andraste. Even in Halamshiral they had only used my surname to introduce me.

She smiled up at me with a small giggle. "Elijah," she repeated. "I haven't felt like this for anyone in a long time."

"Neither have I," I whispered, leaning down to kiss her again. In fact it had been since I was back in the Free Marches with my clan, before the war had even begun, back when I was no one special in my community. Now I was the only hope for all of Thedas, the hero of two countries, the savior of half a continent. And even still, being with this woman made me feel like more of a hero than when the entirety of the Orlesian nobility had watched me execute Duchess Floriana at the Winter Palace.

One of her hands slid down from around my neck and slipped her fingers under my collar. I grinned into the kiss, then sat up for a moment to wiggle out of my robe. Cassandra smiled up at me, and started to undo the clasps on her breastplate. Once my outerwear was tossed aside I knelt before her in just my undershirt and trousers.

Her armor clanked when she finally set it to the side, and with a smile she sat up on her knees to kiss me again. Chuckling a little, I reached up and pulled a leaf out of her hair. Standing, I offered her a hand up.

"Come with me," I whispered, not letting go of her hand. I led her down the path of flowers to a place where the trees opened up enough for us to see the Frostback Mountains. I had already laid out a plush blanket on the ground to protect us from the twigs and leaves of the forest floor, and now I wrapped an arm around her waist and gently leaned her down until she was laying on her back on the blanket, looking up at me with a dreamy smile on her scarred face.

I laid down next to her so I could reach over and kiss the side of her neck. She made a little sound, like the mew of a tiny kitten. I suppressed a giggle. Her soft side was so attractive to me, the way she read romance serials, the things she longed for in a partner and how she dreamed of someone to sweep her off her feet; it only made me want to be that charming prince for her and fulfill every fantasy she'd ever had.

Cassandra ran a hand through my long auburn hair, then trailed a finger down my neck and started to unbutton the shirt I wore under my armor. I grinned and helped her, then pulled it over my head. I watched her brown eyes as they trailed down my bare torso, lithe and pale and covered in the tattoos of my people. She started tracing the winding lines of the designs with one finger. I shivered under her touch, and she smiled a little. Her smiles were so rare, and so beautiful. Her whole face changed when she smiled.

I reached down to kiss the side of her neck again, while one hand started to pull at the hem of her shirt, silently bidding her to take it off. She was eager to oblige and immediately tossed the shirt aside, revealing two perfect breasts and a chiseled, muscular torso. Instantly I felt my own body react, the desire in my gut making my pants fit tighter with every passing second. I wanted her, and knowing she wanted me back just turned me on even more.

Leaning over her I took one of her nipples in my mouth and sucked. Her eyes rolled closed and she sighed aloud in pleasure, making me so hard I could almost tear a hole in my pants. I teased her nipple with my tongue, then switched to her other breast, making sure to stimulate both equally. She whimpered and whined, squirming under my touch as though I were tickling her. It just made me want her more. I loved knowing that I could make her feel that way.

Suddenly I felt her pushing on my shoulders. I looked up just in time for her to practically toss me off of her and onto my back on the blanket. As I propped myself up on my shoulders, Cassandra started unbuttoning my pants. I loved how eager she was, especially considering how much she had resisted this connection at the beginning, acting as though such a relationship between us was utterly impossible. Well, I had been doing impossible things ever since she had met me.

She wasted no time in getting my trousers off and putting my rock-hard member in her mouth. I groaned loudly and dropped back onto the blanket. Her mouth was hot and wet, and when I looked down at her I discovered her looking back up at me, watching my reactions as she sucked up and down my aching cock, and I obliged her with a crooked grin and a hungry growl. I couldn't wait to have her.

Sitting up, I reached down and slid my fingers under her waist band. She wiped her mouth with a small giggle and wiggled out of her pants, grinning at me excitedly. I could tell how bad she wanted this, that I had overcome her hesitance and had completely won her over. I longed to fulfill her every thought, every dream. I would make her my Nevarran queen, with her loyal Dalish knight at her side.

Taking her hands I pulled her over me until she straddled my lap, hovering over my longing dick. I looked up at her, letting my hands roam over her waist and torso. "Cassandra…" I whispered, leaning up to kiss her deeply. She moaned into my mouth and gently lowered herself onto me.

When I entered her, I felt the blood pulse through my cock, making it throb with the intensity of the sensation. She was so hot and tight around me; I broke the kiss so I could let my head fall back, groaning aloud with pleasure. Cassandra lifted her weight off of me and sat back down, rising and falling on my lap, pushing me in and out of her. She started slowly, but quickly picked up speed, bracing herself on my shoulders so she could ride me faster. It felt incredible to be inside of her after all the time I had spent imagining it in the privacy of my own room.

I knew that if I let her go at that pace for much longer, I would climax long before I wanted to, so I grabbed her by the waist and lowered her onto the blanket so I could get on top of her. She wrapped one leg around my waist to give me better access, and as I penetrated her again from the new angle, she bit her lip and gazed up at me with a sultry look in her eye. Another lusty growl vibrated in my throat, and I pushed hard for a few heavy thrusts, then slowed again for a moment, controlling my movements precisely to prolong the ecstasy for both of us.

Cassandra's reactions drove me on as much as my own feelings. When I fucked her hard and fast she closed her eyes and moaned loudly, her breath coming in short gasps. I pushed her to the edge of orgasm and then suddenly slowed my pace, causing her to look up at me with indignation and longing as I denied her her climax. Then, just as she opened her mouth to say something, I slammed back inside of her and she cried out in pleasure.

"Elijah!" she screamed, and I grinned down at her, my hair falling into my light blue eyes. I pounded into her, relishing how tight she was around my cock, the way she tensed when I hit her g-spot on the down strokes, the way I could watch her feelings fly across her face as she tossed her head from side to side in utter delight at the way I was making her feel.

She clenched around me. "Maker! Elijah, I'm going to—Elijah!"

I shoved myself into her as deep as I could, and her scream echoed across the mountains as she came around me, tightening her grip on my cock, drawing my own orgasm closer, until I could push no longer and with a guttural roar of ecstasy I pulled out of her just in time to squirt a load of semen off the edge of the blanket and into the mix of forest floor and flower petals. "Fenedhis!" I cursed, jerking out the last drops of hot spunk as it poured out of me.

Totally spent now, I collapsed onto the blanket next to her, panting heavily. Too sweaty to want to hold her, I just reached over and took her hand, entwining my fingers with hers. Looking over at her I found her watching me seriously.

"What?" I asked, with a silly grin on my face. I was so happy to just be with her like this that I couldn't not smile.

At first she just blinked and looked away from me, gazing up at the stars peeking through the foliage of the forest. I stared at her, seeing her emotions and thoughts run across her beautiful face. I wanted to know her every thought, and I longed to be the subject of those thoughts. More than anything I hoped that she felt the same way about me as I did about her. But her silence had me doubting.

Finally she sighed. "They will say one of two things about me," she started, and I looked at her curiously. It was like her to be constantly thinking of others' opinions of her, especially since she had started the historic movement of the Inquisition. She knew there would be stories about it, about her, and she needed to know that those stories would be positive ones.

She went on. "…that I stood at the Inquisitor's side, his protector and his lover, that it was meant to be," she looked at me and I could tell she wanted as much as I did for that to be the truth. But she continued. "Or they will say I was led from the path of faith by the wiles of a madman."

Those words stung a little. Of course I knew she was right; if the Inquisition failed I would be labeled heretical and power-mad by the opposition, and history would remember us as such. Cassandra's reputation would be forever tarnished as one who had been seduced and pulled astray by the evils of the elven mage who tried to take over Thedas. It wasn't the thought I wanted to be having after having just made love to the most incredible woman I had ever met. But this was part of what it meant to love her, all of her, and I knew that her fears were well founded.

"Which am I to you?" I asked her, propping myself up on one elbow so I could look over at her. Just as she needed to know what the world would think of her, I needed to know just what she thought of me.

Cassandra returned my gaze steadily. "I believe you are a faithful man," she replied confidently, and a few butterflies flew through my stomach. Faithful was an interesting word choice, and I wondered who she believed I was faithful to. She knew I still believed in the gods of my people, that I knew the Anchor was magic and not a blessing. But I was faithful to Thedas, to the Inquisition, and to her. She had to know that.

She kept speaking. "I believe you are the Herald of Andraste, whether you do or not."

I looked at her curiously, thinking. She believed I had been sent by a god. She believed me divine, a savior sent to destroy Corypheus and mend the war torn countries that looked to us for answers.

"Beyond that," she said, "I believe only that you are capable of anything, and that frightens me. I have never known anything like it."

My chest glowed a little to hear she thought I could do anything. She was such a capable woman herself, able to do just about anything she set her mind to, it meant a lot for her to believe that I was even more capable than she. I wasn't quite sure how to feel about the fact that she was afraid of me, however. Cassandra had always seemed invincible to me; she could withstand just about anything on the battlefield, as though she feared nothing. To hear that she feared me, it made me feel formidable and powerful at the same time as it worried me.

Before I could ask her to clarify, however, she changed the subject. "I have been with only one other man in my life. A mage, with whom I adventured when I was still very young."

Something twinged in my mind to know that I wasn't the first mage she had been with, but I knew I couldn't realistically expect to be a first after the life she had led. Maybe I reminded her of him. I didn't relish the thought.

"He died at the Conclave," she murmured, some regret showing in her eye.

So his death had been recent, too. I wondered if they had been together the whole time, right up until the Conclave that had been supposed to stop the war. That wasn't how she had made it sound, however, and the doubt didn't last long.

She was looking at me seriously again. I returned her gaze steadily, waiting for her to speak.

"I will not let Corypheus win," she promised, her dark brown eyes gazing into my blue ones. "I will not let him take you from me."

It was all I needed to hear to know that she would fight for this, for us. My chest swelled, and I opened my mouth to let out the words that had been on the tip of my tongue all evening, the words that had solidified in my mind when I saw the way she looked up at me while I was inside her, the words I needed her to hear.

"Ar lath ma," I whispered in Elvish. Her brow furrowed a little and I could tell she didn't understand. With a little smile, I translated. "I love you."

She returned my gaze with emotion behind her eyes. "Here, tonight…" She sat up so she was eye level with me, "I believe you."

I leaned over and kissed her again, placing one hand on the back of her neck to pull her closer to me. Cassandra kissed me back thirstily, then swung on leg over me so she was straddling me again, and I leaned back onto the blanket, letting her kisses fog my brain until I could think of nothing but her.


End file.
